Eastern European Dinner

Yesterday evening, I had my parents and Janiece, her SmartMan, and MY SmartMan (henceforth to be referred to as D) over for dinner. For whatever reason (probably because I know that SM and D are afficionados of the German cuisine), I had it stuck in my brain that I wanted to have spaetzel with goulash for dinner. I had a recipe for Hungarian Goulash, but I wasn't sure it was the best recipe I could find. I did a little online searching and found this great slow-cooker recipe. The only changes I made were: used 14 oz can of diced tomatoes instead of the 8 oz. can of tomato sauce, used Hungarian ("sweet") paprika, and added a bay leaf and about 1/2 tsp. of caraway seeds. This latter addition was because of what I'd read on the more "authentic" Hungarian goulash site (interesting history bit). And I made it with bison meat instead of beef. I also made a vegitarian mushroom gravy with mushrooms, faux meat (made from mushroom protein), and creamy mushroom soup. I swear that I had planned to make the spaetzel myself, but my parents (experts at the spaetzel assembly line) took over, so I stood aside and tried to help where I could.
The goulash turned out quite well, actually. The meat was especially tender and went very well with the tomatoey-paprikaey sauce.
Janiece brought the most heavenly dessert: Rote Gruetze. I would describe it in detail, but just thinking about it is making my mouth water like crazy. Suffice to say, it was GOOD and heaven is filled with vats of it that you can eat and not get fat.

The other ingredient of a good dinner is the company, and I had the best kind: good friends and family. We had a great time talking and laughing and everyone enjoyed themselves.

Good food and good friends, as Janiece would say.